Swiss Movement is a soul jazz[1] live album recorded on June 21, 1969 at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland by the Les McCann trio, with saxophonist Eddie Harris and trumpeter Benny Bailey.[2][3] The album was a hit record, as was the accompanying single “Compared to What“, with both selling millions of units.[1]
Reception and influence
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |  [4] |
| DownBeat |  [5] |
| The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide | [6] |
The album was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of best jazz performance, small group.[7] It reached No. 1 on Billboard’s jazz album chart, No. 2 on the R&B chart,[8] and No. 29 on the LP chart.[9][10]
Harvey Pekar, writing for DownBeat in a contemporary review, panned the album as “cliche-ridden”.[5]
A Billboard writer commented in 2006 that “what put Montreux on the recorded-live-in-concert map was the legendary Swiss Movement album”.[11] Writing in AllMusic, Richie Unterberger calls Swiss Movement “one of the most popular soul jazz albums of all time, and one of the best.”[4]
The tapes of this impromptu concert were originally recorded by the festival’s organisers and then passed on to Atlantic, who decided to release them after paying a fee of less than $100.[12]
McCann and Harris teamed up again for a follow-up recording, Second Movement, released in 1971.[13]
Track listing
- “Compared to What” – (Gene McDaniels): 8:41
- “Cold Duck Time” – (Eddie Harris): 6:31
- “Kathleen’s Theme” – (Les McCann): 5:45
- “You Got It in Your Soulness” – (Les McCann): 7:08
- “The Generation Gap” – (Les McCann): 8:45
- “Kaftan” – (Leroy Vinnegar) – bonus track on the 1996 reissue
Personnel
- Eddie Harris – tenor saxophone
- Les McCann – piano, vocals on “Compared to What”
- Benny Bailey – trumpet
- Leroy Vinnegar – bass
- Donald Dean – drums
References
- ^ a b Carr, Roy (2006) [1997], “Soul to Soul”, A Century of Jazz: A Hundred Years of the Greatest Music Ever Made, London: Hamlyn, pp. 106–121, ISBN 0-681-03179-4
- ^ “BBC – Music – Review of Les McCann & Eddie Harris – Swiss Movement”. www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
- ^ Eddie Harris Discography, accessed June 22, 2017
- ^ a b c “Swiss Movement – Les McCann, Eddie Harris – Songs, Reviews, Credits – AllMusic”. AllMusic. Retrieved October 5, 2018.
- ^ a b Down Beat: February 19, 1970 vol. 37, no. 4. Review by Harvey Pekar.
- ^ Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. pp. 96. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
- ^ “‘Swiss Movement’ Grammy Nominee” (March 13, 1971) Billboard. p. 4.
- ^ Goldmark, Daniel (2012) In “Slightly Left of Center”: Atlantic Records and the Problems of Genre. In Ake, David Andrew; Garrett, Charles Hiroshi; Goldmark, Daniel “Jazz/Not Jazz: The Music and Its Boundaries”. University of California Press. p. 165.
- ^ “Billboard Top LP’s”. (February 28, 1970) Billboard. p. 70.
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (1991) “The Billboard Book of Top 40 Albums”. Billboard Books. p. 119.
- ^ Ouellette, Dan (June 3, 2006) “On the Record”. Billboard. p. 36.
- ^ “EH | the Official Website of Eddie Harris”.
- ^ Edelstein, Paula. “Second Movement”. AllMusic. Retrieved January 16, 2023.
